Fact Sheet: President Calls for Ticket to Independence in Welfare Reform

Today's Presidential Action

President Bush called on Congress to pass strong state and local
flexibility as part of welfare reform, including a Ticket to
Independence provision that allows state and local governments to more
effectively help people move from welfare dependency to work.

The President visited a faith-based organization in Columbus, Ohio
that helps welfare recipients make the transition to work and
independence. He met with state and local welfare officials in Ohio
who have helped to develop creative local welfare solutions. He also
met with former welfare recipients who have been helped by creative
local programs -- such as a young man who participated in an innovative
at-risk youth intervention program. The young man is now employed and
on track to receive his high school degree and become a certified
computer technician.

Background on the President's Welfare Reform Agenda

This year, Congress must act to reauthorize the historic 1996
welfare reform law. President Bush proposes to build on the success of
the bipartisan 1996 reforms by making welfare even more focused on the
well-being of children and supportive of families. The President's
plan is designed to strengthen families and help more welfare
recipients work toward independence and self-reliance. The President's
welfare reform plan will:

Help more welfare recipients achieve independence through
work. The President's plan requires welfare recipients to work 40
hours per week -- either at a job or in programs designed to help them
achieve independence.

Protect children and strengthen families.
The President proposes to continue historically high levels of support
for childcare ($4.8 billion per year) through the Child Care and
Development Block Grant. The President's welfare reform plan also
provides states financial incentives to give more of the past-due child
support payments they collect to mothers and children.

Provide
compassionate food assistance to legal immigrants in need. The
President's proposal will allow legal immigrants to receive food stamps
five years after entry to the United States -- ensuring adequate
nutrition among children and other vulnerable immigrant groups. The
President's plan also continues to require new entrants to support
themselves and their families through work and continues the existing
five-year ban on welfare benefits for non-citizens entering the country
after 1996.

Empower states to seek new and innovative solutions
to help welfare recipients achieve independence. One of the key
pillars of the President's welfare reform plan, as well as the 1996
welfare reform law, is to encourage innovation by states and local
governments to help people move from welfare dependency toward
independence.

The President's plan establishes a Ticket to Independence program
to encourage state and local innovation.

Under the President's plan, state and local governments will be
able to consolidate a range of welfare programs (such as food stamps, housing, workforce programs, and adult
education) in order to eliminate conflicting requirements, reduce red tape and improve their effectiveness for
the people they serve. This new flexibility will help states design better programs that could significantly improve
service delivery for Americans in need.

For example, currently, several of the major welfare assistance
programs (food stamps, housing programs and workforce programs) operate
under different federal and state agencies, each with their own sets of
rules, regulations and reporting requirements. The President's Ticket to
Independence proposal would allow states to streamline these
programs so that states would have a single application, a single set of
performance measures, and a single set of reporting requirements. This
streamlining will enable states and local governments to spend fewer resources
on federal paperwork and more resources on helping people to achieve
independence from welfare.